Companies are restricted in sending data from European customers to other nations unless certain strict conditions are met. For example, data transfers can only occur if the destination country respects the data privacy standards established by the European Union. This means that transferring customer data to authoritarian regimes like China is likely against the law.
Data Practices of Tech Companies
However, many tech companies continue to transfer customer data to China, especially global Chinese firms. Xiaomi, a well-known smartphone maker, has openly stated in its transparency report that Chinese authorities sometimes demand and gain unrestricted access to personal data. This raises serious concerns regarding the security of data belonging to Xiaomi users. In fact, companies like Temu must comply with requests from the Chinese government, as there is no independent authority in China to protect data privacy.
NOYB’s Investigative Actions
Because of these concerns, the data protection organization NOYB, which stands for “none of your business”, has sought access to data to determine whether the involved companies have indeed sent customer information to China or other nations outside the EU. Despite being legally required to do so, none of these companies have supplied the needed information.
As a result, NOYB has officially lodged a complaint regarding data privacy against TikTok, Aliexpress, Shein, Temu, WeChat, and Xiaomi across five different EU nations. NOYB is pushing for an end to these unlawful data transfers and has suggested that EU authorities should impose hefty fines, potentially reaching 4% of the global revenue of these large corporations.
Financial Implications of Non-Compliance
To illustrate, AliExpress generates an annual revenue of €3.68 billion, which could lead to a fine of about €147 million. Meanwhile, Temu has an even larger annual revenue of €33.84 billion, meaning it could face a staggering fine of up to €1.35 billion under the strict data protection regulations of the EU.
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